Luggage Weighing on My Mind

Trump, gun violence, are the hydrangeas getting enough water?, and airline baggage have all been keeping me awake during the night. Airline baggage is the one that most weighs on me – teehee, little joke there. (Actually, maybe Trump is more troubling, but we are looking forward to getting away from the presidential race for a while.)

Barry and I are leaving today for a five week trip to NYC, Copenhagen, Baltic Cruise with Jon and Kathryn, then to Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival and the Military Tattoo, then Oslo, and Norway in a Nutshell three day train trip from Oslo to Bergen, a few days in Bergen. Finally, we will fly back to Oslo and then fly home to Oakland, drive to Sacramento. Whew!! Arranging this was so much fun and very, very sweet as “Leaky” aka, Barry, has a clean bill of health and we aren’t planning any heart valve surgery this time. We are so thankful that we can still see more of the world in good health. It is ALL sweetness, except for the damned airline baggage!

We have been devotees of traveling light, only a carryon and hand luggage for the last few years. This has been working pretty well, even on a six week trip to France. It WOULD be easier to go up four flights of stairs to our Air BnB in Edinburgh and easier to get on the train in Geilo, onto on another train in Flam, then load it on to a ferry in a fjord to Gudvangen during one day in Norway if we had only two little carry-ons. HOWEVER, we are flying some “economy” airlines and the luggage restrictions have me pulling my hair out. Norwegian Air only allows one regular sized carryon bag and it must be less than 22lb. My sturdy and well traveled Briggs and Riley is nearly 10lbs without anything in it! Packing just the basic shoes, clothes, toiletries, iPad, travel notes, get me over the 22lbs…..GRRRR. I can’t get the weight down. Barry scoffed at me until HE tried it. I have read travel bloggers say, “They didn’t check my carry-ons, I boarded without problems.” While others say, “I was stopped at the gate, had to check overweight carry-ons costing more money and lots of hassle. We’ve shopped for lighter bags too, but not worth it.

We are also flying RyanAir, which is notoriously nasty about carry-ons. So after a great deal of angst and re-re-re-packing, I am checking a bag. For a cheap $50 ticket to fly from Copenhagen to Oslo, I had to pay $45 to check my bag. OH well! Said bag is caving in with empty space, but the silver lining is that will give me more room to purchase just the right things for the grand-darlings and maybe a thing or two for my little self. Most likely I’ll have to pay over sized checked baggage fee at the end? UGH.

I hope that you will follow our adventures and Putin doesn’t invade anything while we are in the Baltic. Stay tuned.